What Fenton Stephens does

Fenton Stephens is an Australian full-service integrated branding and advertising agency headquartered at 171 Buckhurst Street, South Melbourne, founded in 2005 and operating with 11–50 employees. The firm serves enterprise, mid-market, government, and education clients across automotive (Isuzu), retail and footwear (Accent Group umbrella brands), consumer products (Ryobi, AEG), insurance (iSelect), health and wellness (Endota, YourBreast), education (Collarts, Melbourne Business School, Vic Gov Department of Education), and law enforcement (Victoria Police). Its core offering, branded 'Compound Creativity', configures five inter-connected disciplines — Strategy, Creative, Performance, Research, and CX — into tailored service stacks for each client, emphasizing long-term retainer relationships rather than transactional project work.

The agency's technology stack centers on MarginHuntr™, a proprietary performance-marketing tool that integrates with customer data platforms to automate campaign spend toward highest-margin products, replacing vanity-metric optimization with profit-focused bidding. Service delivery is supported by named capabilities spanning omni-channel ecommerce, SEM, SEO, GA4/GTM consulting, Meta and TikTok ads, CX/UX/EX research, brand tracking, and content platforms. The firm's go-to-market is exclusively direct sales, with C-suite leaders (CEO Simon Antonis, COO Joey Dorrington, CCO Alex Fenton, Chief Customer Officer Amy Stephens) actively engaged on business development; pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Revenue is generated through professional-services fees on multi-year enterprise retainers and government contracts, with demonstrated client outcomes including +52% ROI for Accent Group, +91% website revenue growth for Endota, and 13 years of double-digit growth for Ryobi.

Name

Fenton Stephens

Legal name

Fenton Stephens

Website

https://fentonstephens.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fenton Stephens is a South Melbourne-based full-service integrated advertising agency serving enterprise, government, and education clients across Australia with Strategy, Creative, Performance, Research, and CX services unified under its 'Compound Creativity' methodology and proprietary MarginHuntr™ performance tool.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

South Melbourne

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Integrated Marketing Services: Full suite of inter-connected disciplines (Strategy, Creative, Performance, Research, CX) configured into tailored service stacks for clients. Revenue generated through ongoing client partnerships and project-based work.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Fenton Stephens is a full-service integrated marketing agency that configures five interconnected disciplines—Strategy, Creative, Performance, Research, and CX—into tailored service stacks under its "Compound Creativity" approach, delivering brand and performance campaigns for enterprise and mid-market clients. The agency's proprietary MarginHuntr™ tool supports performance marketing by optimizing ad spend against margin targets, while long-term client partnerships (rather than transactional projects) are the primary commercial model.

Product overview

Fenton Stephens is a full-service marketing agency offering Compound Creativity — an integrated service approach that combines Strategy, Creative, Performance, CX (Customer Experience), and Research services. Their proprietary MarginHuntr™ tool supports their performance marketing services by optimizing ad spend and maximizing margins. The agency configures these interconnected disciplines into tailored service stacks for long-term brand profitability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MarginHuntr™: Proprietary performance marketing tool engineered to sharpen ad spend and maximise margin.

Products and services

• Strategy Services Strategic marketing services including Brand Vision, Brand Positioning Strategy, Brand Architecture, Creative Strategy, Social Strategy, Content Platform, and Comms Planning for enterprise and mid-market clients.
• Creative Services Creative services spanning Brand Platform, Brand Tone of Voice, Core Creative Idea, Through-the-line Campaigns, Tactical Campaigns, Retail Campaigns, Social Content, Digital Production, PR & Activation, and use of AI as a creative tool.
• Performance Services Performance marketing services including Omni-channel e-commerce, SEM, SEO, GA4/GTM Consulting, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Social Content Strategy, and Marketing Automation for client brands.
• Research Services Market research capabilities including Research Design, Qualitative research, Quantitative research, CX/BX/UX/EX research, Brand research, Creative testing, and Brand tracking.
• CX Services Customer experience services covering Experience Planning, Marketing Delivery, Customer Retention, Loyalty Programs, Customer Centricity, Personas, Performance Integration, and Brand Promise Delivery Ecosystem.
• MarginHuntr™ Proprietary performance marketing tool engineered to sharpen ad spend and maximize margins, helping brands move beyond short-term wins to scale at the right moments and create sustainable profitability via highly automated campaigns integrated with CDP and funnelled toward highest-margin products.

Quantifiable outcome

• +52% ROI increase for Accent Group
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators20 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Howatson+Co: Independent Australian advertising agency of comparable size and capabilities. Directly comparable as a creative-led independent competing for enterprise brand-building work across Australia.
• Special Group: Independently-owned creative and integrated agency with Australian offices. Comparable as an indie competitor offering strategy + creative + performance services to similar mid-market and enterprise clients.
• BMF Advertising: One of Australia's leading independent creative agencies, headquartered in Sydney. Comparable as an independent Australian integrated agency competing for the same enterprise and government clients with similar multi-vertical exposure.
• Thinkerbell: Australian independent creative and integrated marketing agency of similar size and footprint. Directly comparable as a Melbourne-based mid-market full-service agency with a measurement-tied creative philosophy ('measured brilliance').
• The Brand Agency: Independent Australian-based creative and integrated marketing agency (part of the STW group networks historically). Comparable as a mid-sized full-service competitor focused on strategy, creative, and digital performance work for Australian clients.

Broad incumbents

• TBWA Australia: International creative network operating across Australia. Comparable as an established incumbent delivering creative + media + performance services to enterprise clients in the same market.
• Dentsu Australia: Global network agency with substantial Australian operations spanning creative, media, and CX. Comparable as a larger incumbent offering overlapping services (advertising, performance, research) to enterprise clients Australia-wide.
• Leo Burnett Australia: Major international network agency in Australia under Publicis. Comparable as a competing full-service integrated agency for large enterprise mandates in the Australian market.
• Clemenger BBDO: Largest Australian-owned creative agency network, part of the Omnicom group. Comparable as a competing full-service agency for major Australian enterprise and government mandates, with broader scale.

Emerging players

• Born Create: Specialist performance marketing and digital agency with Australian presence. Comparable as a performance-led agency serving similar e-commerce and consumer clients with measurable ROI focus — overlapping with the MarginHuntr™ value proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fenton-stephens
• Xx.com/fentonstephens

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fenton Stephens